Canadians increased international travel in September while travel to Canada from abroad shrank, thereby increasing Canada’s travel deficit and causing concern for tourism operators.

Canadians increased international travel in September while travel to Canada from abroad shrank, thereby increasing Canada’s travel deficit and causing concern for tourism operators.

In total, Canadian residents took 5.6 million trips to the U.S. and overseas countries combined, up 2.9% from August, according to Statistics Canada data released yesterday.

Total travel to Canada, in contrast, fell 0.9% in September to 2.1 million trips.

The nation’s number cruncher did not break down the numbers by province.

Among the top 12 overseas markets, six recorded decreases in travel to Canada in September. The largest percentage decreases were the 8.3% decline in visitors from China and the 6.7% drp in visitors from Switzerland.

Travel from Italy and Australia recorded the strongest gains at 8.5% and 5.0% respectively.